ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda recently warned that those in Burundi
alleged to be committing crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the
ICC could be held individually accountable. PHOTO | FILE
By HAVYARIMANA MOSES
In Summary
- Burundi has threatened to reconsider its membership to the Rome Statute after the International Criminal Court launched preliminary investigations into post-election killings in the country.
- Foreign Affairs minister said Burundi is yet to decide on its membership of the ICC but “should the ICC not respect what the African Union has been asking for, then we have no choice but to follow what others in the continent have come up with as an alternative.”
- ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda recently warned that those alleged to be committing crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC could be held individually accountable.
Burundi has threatened to reconsider its membership to the
Rome Statute after the International Criminal Court launched preliminary
investigations into post-election killings in the country.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alain Nyamitwe said ICC prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda had not taken into account the principle of
complementarity, where national courts are given the first priority to
investigate the killings that have taken place in Burundi since April
last year.
Mr Nyamitwe said Burundi is yet to decide on its membership of
the ICC but “should the ICC not respect what the African Union has been
asking for, then we have no choice but to follow what others in the
continent have come up with as an alternative.”
Members of the African Union have backed a Kenyan proposal to
push for withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, saying it
unfairly targets the continent.
The principle of complementarity states that national courts are
empowered to investigate and punish perpetrators of crimes against
humanity and genocide and that the ICC can only investigate if the
national courts are not able to, or if the UN Security Council asks for
its participation.
Ms Bensouda recently warned that those alleged to be committing
crimes that fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC could be held
individually accountable.
Since violence erupted in April last year following President
Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term, more than 400
people have been killed and thousands have fled the country.
International human-rights organisations have accused Burundi security
forces of carrying out targeted killings of presumed opponents of the
president’s third term.
The African Union made a resolution to reject the trials of
sitting heads of state and senior government officials at the ICC and
has instead proposed to expand the jurisdiction of the Arusha-based
African Court of Human and People’s Rights to include international
crimes.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir is currently wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity in the province of Darfur.
Because 34 out of Africa’s 54 countries have signed the Rome
Treaty establishing the court, ICC supporters say they are obligated to
apprehend President al-Bashir. However, he recently visited South Africa
and Uganda, and neither of them arrested him.
Meanwhile, former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa — who is
the facilitator of the inter-Burundi dialogue — said the talks were the
only option to resolve the crisis.
Relaunched
The dialogue, which has been suspended more than five times
since last year, was recently relaunched in Arusha where, according to
Mr Nyamitwe, both the government and the opposition had equal
opportunities to express their views.
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